Extra point and field goal kicking tee



Nov. 17, 1953 N. E. M GOWEN 2,659,604

EXTRA POINT AND FIELD GOAL KICKING TEE Filed Aug. 50, 1950 Fig.

Neil E. MC Gowen IN VEN TOR.

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Patented Nov. 17, 1953 QFFICE EXTRA POINT AND FIELD GOAL KICKING TEE Neil E. McGowan, Auburn, Ala.

Application August 30, 1950, Serial No. 182,311

1 Claim. '5

The present invention relates to a novel tee which is expressly adapted for use on a gridiron during the course of play of a regulation game of football and. has more particular reference to a tee which will serve, subject to endorsement and use, as an aid to players in kicking (1) extra points and (2) field goals.

It should be understood from the outset that the tee herein under advisement is not merely for practice use. On the contrary, it has to do with a tee of appropriate material and especially styled form which may be handed by one of the ofiicials to the players of the team desiring to use it, staked by the ball receiver at the point wanted where he, the receiver, snaps the ball in the usual manner, sets it up in the desired position on the tee and thus greatly assists the kicker in more advantageously lofting the ball, the initial stage of the flight of the latter to be guided, for the most part, by the directional and guiding characteristics of said tee.

Briefly summarized, the tee in its preferred form comprises a block-like base, which under ordinary circumstances, will be of hard rubber or such material the rules and regulations permit, the same having a flat bottom which may be suitably and firmly rested on the gridiron surface and having a longitudinal open ended channel whose surfaces and angles are such to to perinit the ball receiver to stand the ball in the channel at one end to be momentarily held for kicking, the opposite end being adapted to accommodate and guide the cleated shoe of the kicker.

One feature of the tee has to do with channel means wherein the forward end is narrowed by forwardly converging walls to aptly accommodate the upright football, the opposite end being just wide enough to allow the cleats on the kickers shoe to enter and follow therethrough to guide the shoe into contact with th ball.

A further feature of the invention has to do with the aforementioned channel arrangement wherein the channel walls not only converge from rear to front but also converge toward the bottom of the channel, said bottom ascending in elevation from the rear end to the front end in order to thus prop the ball approximately onehalf inch above the ground.

Other objects, features, and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description and the accompanying sheet of illustrative drawings.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings wherein like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the views:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a ball holding andkicking tee constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention and showing the approximate manner in which the same is adapted to be used;

Figure 2 is a top plan View of said tee on a somewhat enlarged scale;

Figure 3 is a central vertical section on the plane of the line 3-3 of Figure 2, looking in the direction of the arrows; and,

Figure sis a rear end elevation showing the deeper wider end of the channel.

As before mentioned, a football accommodating and kicking tee is a novel accessory in so far as the regulation game of football is concerned. Its adoption and use will therefore be contingent on its authorized use by those who establish rules and regulations for play. It has not yet been established whether the tee would be kept at the side lines in readiness for expeditious use or whether it would have to be quickly picked up from the field by the referee immediately after the kick has been executed. It is appreciated that these are not factors to be technically taken into account here though such considerations may assist in enabling the reader to dispel from his mind questions which will naturally arise in connection with such an innovation.

As before specified the device is somewhat in the nature of a block though it may be aptly referred to as a base. Or, to put it otherwise, it is a block-like base of hard rubber or suitable material which is of generally rectangular form in plan view. In actual practice it will be some five inches in length, three inches in width, and two inches in height at its highest or front end.

The aforementioned open ended channel is denoted generally by the numeral 6 and is characterized by a pair of upstanding longitudinal side walls 8 and I0 rising from the flat bottomed base l2. The upper edges of the walls 8 and Hi decrease gradually in height and curve downwardly at their rearward ends, as at I d, where they merge into a relatively thin transverse rear edge portion IS. The efiective channel walls I8 and 20 converge in a forward direction and define a substantially V-shaped relatively narrow ball guiding and exit portion 22. The same wall surfaces l8 and 20 also converge toward the substantially flat bottom of the channel and the stated bottom, here denoted by the numeral 2%, is approximately trapezoidal in outline and increases in thickness from rear to front and therefore provides an elevated ball seat 26 at one end and a cleat clearance edge 28 at the opposite or rear end. The seat 25 is approximately two inches above the ground and the edge 28 approximately one-eighth of an inch more or less. The block is stabilized and in addition anchored through the medium of suitable calks 33 attached to and depending from the forward fiat bottom i2.

The especially channeled tee provides a ball holder which is aptly suitable for the intended purposes. It enables the ball receiver to snap the ball and set it up in the desired angular position to be catapulted much in the manner of launching a projectile. Ihus, the channel serves not only as a holder and elevating means but enables the cleated shoe of the kicker to clear nicely through the channel to bring the toe into contact with the ball thus to coordinate the factors of setting up and holding the ball, and lining up the kickers foot to make more certain of resultful accomplishments of direction of the ball.

A careful consideration of the foregoing description in conjunction with the invention as illustrated in the drawings will enable the reader what is point after touchdown or making a more satisfactory attempt to kick a field goal, as the situation may be, comprising a solid block-like body of a size to cooperate with a regulation football, said body having a fiat bottom provided at one end only with a pair of opposed depending calks adapted to be temporarily anchored in the ground and having a longitudinal open-ended channel, said channel having an approximately fiat trapezoidal bottom gradually increasing in height from the rear toward the forward end of the body and having opposed vertical side walls, said side walls converging toward each other in a direction toward the bottom of the channel and also converging toward each other in a direction toward the front end of the channel and defining a substantially V-shaped ball exit, and the upper edge portions of said side walls being curved rearwardly and downwardly and being decreased in height gradually from the front toward the rear end of the body to provide clearance for the kickers cleats by way of the rear end of the channel and also'clearance for the sole of the shoe over the top of the rearwardly receding side walls.

NEIL E. MCGOVVEN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,152,313 Hammond Aug. 31, 1915 1,570,926 Sibbald Jan. 26-, 1926 1,671,813 Clark May 29, 1928 2,125,679 Longstreet Aug. 2, 1938 2,239,200 Peterson 1 Apr..22, 1941 

